Juan de Langara

Juan Francisco de Langara y Huarte (1736-1806) was an admiral of Spain during the Spanish-Portuguese War, American Revolutionary War, and the French Revolutionary Wars.

Biography
Langara was born in La Corunna in Galicia, northern Spain, in 1736 to a Basque family. He entered the Spanish Navy at the age of 14 and made voyages to the Chinese and Philippine seas for mapping expeditions, and he took part in the 1777 capture of Santa Catalina Island during the Spanish-Portuguese War. The war guaranteed that Portugal did not aid their traditional ally, Great Britain, in the American Revolutionary War. Langara was defeated in the Moonlight Battle (Cape St. Vincent) in 1780, and he was captured. After the war's end he returned to his post and fought in the French Revolutionary Wars against France at the siege of Toulon and the action of 14 February 1795. In 1797 he was made Inspector-General of the Spanish Navy and retired in 1799. He died a year after the Spanish defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar.